


The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known

by seths_dream



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Banter, Canon-Typical Violence, Fade to Black, Fluff, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, M/M, Mementos (Persona 5), Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26455264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seths_dream/pseuds/seths_dream
Summary: "Are you seeing this shit?” Akechi hissed, waving his phone at Akira.Someone was writing subpar… subpar…fanfictionabout him and Akira. Or rather,Phantom Thief-san,he thought wildly. He could barely even force himself to think about it. Fanfiction. God, how did this happen, and why was this why he was back in the media?A fanfic starring Detective Prince Goro Akechi and the elusive leader of the Phantom Thieves has taken Japan by storm. There was enough going on in his life already with the warped dream Tokyo, navigating the hidden layers of Mementos, and trying to stayforgottenby the public who used to adore him. Akechi’d just wanted to get through this godforsaken research Palace and forget all about what his life used to be before… before. Now his name was back in the public eye in the worst way, and he needed to know who’d done this.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira
Comments: 39
Kudos: 152





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as purely indulgent crack and then grew a B plot, a C plot, annnndd a smidgeon of D plot. It was so much dang fun to write! A good portion of this is written out already (I even did a damn OUTLINE for the first time in a fic), so updates should be _fairly_ regular. There should be 6 or 7 chapters and around 10k total. As a heads up, the later tags apply to later chapters.
> 
> SUPER shoutout to Kendra, Chuusei, and others from the G.A.P.S. server for coming up with the idea for this and feeding my plot bunnies. \o/ And many thanks to Quite, Tsu, and Prince for being cheerleaders and somehow giving me three opinions on a summary when I offered two.

**Anon: how the fuk did a fanfic go viral**

**Anon: has anyone heard from shido?? what happened after the election im confused**

**Anon: I never read fanfic but my friend made me read it…**

**Anon: Akechi’s back in the spotlight!!! I knew he could do it!**

**Anon: Akechi-san, I love you! <3 **

* * *

_“Phantom Thief-san,” Detective Prince Goro Akechi said, his limpid shining chestnut long-lashed eyes open wide with admiration. He couldn’t look away from the most beautiful stunning man he had ever seen, with his soft midnight locks and moonlight skin, his orbs silver in the mysterious dark of night._

_“Please, no need for such pleasantries,” the handsome thief’s deep voice rumbled sexily. “You may call me… Master.”_

_“Master,” the slender, sweet detective breathed, looking up into shimmering moons of eyes, the only feature visible behind a mask obscuring the thief’s true visage._

_The sexy thief tilted Akechi’s head up to him with a single gloved digit and whispered “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life.”_

“Are you seeing this shit?” Akechi hissed, waving his phone at Akira. This was the first thing he’d said since stomping up to Akira’s attic to join the Phantom Thieves meeting, fifteen minutes later than everyone else and dusted in snow.

Futaba stifled a laugh—she clearly knew where he was going with this, and he was _instantly_ suspicious. But he’d focus on her later. Melted snow dripped from his hair and landed on his face.

“Who did this? Was it you?” He wiped the water from his forehead and directed his glare at Ryuji, who yelped.

“Hey, man, don’t look at me. It’s funny as shit, but I swear! I don’t even like writing!”

“How many of you have read this trash already?” Akechi watched everyone around the room awkwardly raise their hands, minus Akira, who looked caught between confusion and laughter.

Akechi narrowed his eyes on Futaba next. Ryuji was still suspect, but he also wasn’t good enough of a liar to fool Akechi. _Probably._ Akechi realized he hadn’t ever caught Ryuji in a lie before, and _that_ was suspicious in itself.

“We derailed this meeting enough _before_ Akechi came,” Makoto said, looking exhausted already; Akechi was instantly glad he had been late. “Can we please get things back on track?”

Akechi’s eyes shot over to her, but instantly dismissed the thought of Makoto writing subpar… subpar… _fanfiction_ about _him and Akira._ Or rather, _Phantom Thief-san,_ he thought wildly. He could barely even force himself to think about it. _Fanfiction._ God, how did this happen, and why was _this_ why he was back in the media?

He’d never been so thankful he didn’t do interviews anymore. Most of the country still thought he had vanished, probably. Hopefully. Being found at this point would be the last thing he needed.

Thoughts continued to swirl around his head throughout the whole meeting, and he agreed to the next couple of Mementos trips without even processing the discussion.

He tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Ann say, “And seriously, Akira with Akechi? I can’t see it.”

Akechi couldn’t decide whether or not he should feel offended by that. He glanced over at Akira, but he was chatting with Morgana with his standard neutral expression on his face, giving no indication he’d heard anything.

Yusuke folded his hands beneath his chin and leaned over the table. He stared intently at Akechi, who shifted backwards further against the wall and tried not to look defensive while doing it. “They _do_ have a sort of aesthetic appeal together.”

Akechi relaxed. He _knew_ he liked Yusuke for a reason, he thought smugly.

“He’s not wrong,” Makoto mumbled beneath her breath, making Akechi _instantly_ suspicious again… even if she _was_ right. Of course he and Akira were hot together. Anyone who thought otherwise was devoid of all taste.

“I would appreciate it if we stopped talking about this.” Akechi felt like his scowl could melt the paint off the attic wall.

“You did bring it up in the first place.” Makoto looked flustered.

Haru—shockingly and almost concerningly sweet Haru, who Akechi couldn’t even _think_ of suspecting—shook her head with a soft smile. “Alright, everyone. Shall we head into Mementos?”

Ryuji stretched his arms over his head and smiled savagely. It wasn’t a bad look for him. “Eff yeah, let’s see how far we can get in the new area!”

“It’ll be good to get a little stronger,” Haru said. “Those shadows in the Palace are quite difficult.”

“Akira and I managed fine with Sumire,” Akechi groused, but he let it go when Akira elbowed him and gave him a look. _Right. Stop trying to antagonize the group. Even if someone,_ someone, _is definitely being suspicious about that fanfiction._

“Let’s go.” Akira fired up the app and they slipped into another world, easy as a habit. The group picked up where they’d left off in Mementos, strengthening their Personas and scouting the dizzying unendingness of the stark, almost alien white of the new Mementos.

He felt Akira’s eyes on him the whole time, grounding him. Losing himself in the feral thrill of battle, Akechi almost managed to forget about the whole thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Anon: lol did you see that akechi fanfic**

**Anon: what loser reads fanfic**

**Anon: It’s sexyyyy~ go akechi-san~**

**Anon: the thief and the detective.. romantic….**

**Anon: are you kidding me. The writing is so bad lmao**

**Anon: lol author totally jerks it to the phantom thieves**

**Anon: wait people still care about the phantom thieves or akechi??**

**Anon: I forgot all about akechi-san... he hasn’t been around has he? hope he’s okay…**..・ヾ(。＞＜)シ

**Anon: whats the phantom thieves?**

_The mysteriously sexy Phantom Thief never came to him in the harsh daylight of day. He was purely made of moonlight, at the same time a dark figure somehow darker than the night itself, spiriting the handsome Detective Prince away into his hidden outdoor secret hideout where they would share passionate love deep into the night, until the pale blushing rose of dawn spread over the horizon, pink as Phantom Thief-san’s perfect lips._

_Each time the sky began to lighten, Phantom Thief-san would push Akechi away with a slight smile. “Until next time, my dear prince,” the thief said silkily._

_“Yes, Master,” the brunet Prince whispered back to him in a voice like sweet bells, and they would part._

_The striking brunet dreamed of him every night, the dashing ravenet filling his every thought. His heart pounded every time he daydreamed about his honeyed and dark touch. “Phantom Thief-san,” he found himself writing in his notes, his sad excuse for a heart fluttering in his chest like a delicate flower unfolding in the moonlight. He never could’ve guessed what would happen later that day…_

* * *

Waking up next to Akira still felt special, even after all these weeks together. After all, Akechi was used to years of waking up alone in a small, if nice, apartment; used to years of quiet mornings pressing an iron onto his clothes, grabbing an apple, and fixing his smile before walking out into the cold world; used to pasting on that smile to everyone he passed, only able to drop it around _Shido_ of all people.

Ironic that the one man who had known his darker side had been the man he was trying to deceive above anyone else.

Every time he woke up next to Akira, his body felt suffused with calm. Akira's warmth spread over Akechi’s skin, and he somehow always opened his eyes mere seconds after Akechi began to admire his sleeping face. Akechi didn’t know what to do with these _feelings_ like companionship and infatuation. He was so used to being alone that it was almost uncomfortable to _not_ be, even though he’d spent more nights here than he could count on both hands.

“Good morning,” Akira said, his voice scratchy from sleep. He wrapped a hand around the back of Akechi’s neck and pulled him into a kiss, the brilliance of which was only barely tempered by the taste of morning breath.

“We should get up,” Akechi said. He kept his voice quiet. It seemed almost sacrilege to spoil the soft moment, cold early morning sunlight spilling onto the bed and transforming dust motes into an almost magical glow. Only Akira could make Akechi think something so poetic of a dusty attic bedroom.

“Mm, of course.” Akira kissed Akechi again instead of moving. His body felt warm and smelled good with the lingering scent of last night's shower, and his lips moved slowly but confidently against Akechi's.

In the end, they managed to spend most of the morning in bed.

By the time they were dressed and downstairs, they found Ryuji bickering good-naturedly with Ann in a booth, while Yusuke stared tiredly into a half-empty cup of black coffee at the counter. Sojiro lifted a hand in silent greeting—he was used to seeing Akechi in the morning, and thank _fuck_ Akechi hadn’t been there for any awkward conversations about it. Sojiro didn’t seem so bad, as far as father figures went.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea,” Ryuji slammed a hand on the table as soon as Akira and Akechi sat. He had a mostly-empty mug in his hand and a moustache of what looked like hot chocolate staining his upper lip.

“And you needed to come here at 11 AM for your… idea, _why?”_ Akechi’s hair tickled a tender spot on his neck and he brushed it aside thoughtlessly.

“ _Well,_ I was thinking—Wait, what the eff? Why are you here? What’s on your _neck?”_

Akechi tugged his collar up and averted his eyes. “Nothing.”

Akira looked away, his ears pink.

Ann’s eyes zeroed in on Akechi’s neck, too late to see anything. Akechi gave her a dirty look, and she gave him a too-bright smile in return.

“Uh, yeah,” Ryuji settled back down and slouched against the booth seat. “I’m thinkin’, that fanfic shit.”

“Oh my god, are we talking about this again?” Akechi muttered, grinding the heel of his hand into his forehead and resting his head against it.

“Oh my god, are we talking about this again?” Ann piped up in an excited flurry of blonde pigtails. “It actually updated last night! Akechi and Phantom Thief-san meet up at a masked ball and Akechi gets abducted by—”

“Ann, you’re _reading_ this?” Akira looked lost.

“And you’re _not?”_ Ann countered.

Akechi took note of the way Akira didn’t refute that. They’d have to have a long talk later.

“Anyway,” Ryuji grabbed their attention back. “It was totally Mishima.”

Akechi raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. “I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

“Ohh, right, you wouldn’t know him,” Ann said. “He’s in our class at Shujin. Mine and Akira’s, I mean.”

“He was a victim of Kamoshida’s.” Akira’s voice was quiet and he tore at the napkin under his coffee cup with distracted fingers. Despite himself, Akechi felt fondness wash over him while watching his fidgeting—Akira never could keep still. “He knows who I am.”

“He knows who you are,” Akechi said flatly.

“Yeah, like. Uh. Phantom Thieves-wise.”

“Jesus Christ,” Akechi muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and joining Ryuji in slumping against the seat. “I thought you kept this all secret.”

“We do!” Ann protested. “He just… happened to guess correctly when we changed Kamoshida’s heart. He was pretty involved in the whole situation. Besides, he only knows about Akira.” She paused, then overrode Akechi’s barely-there confidence in that when she added a quiet “I think.”

“I have not spent much time with him, myself, but I don’t believe we have any reason to be concerned.” Yusuke sipped at his coffee.

“He’s a good kid.” Akira looked at Akechi with a shrug. “He wouldn’t do anything to betray us.”

 _Ouch._ Akechi’s reaction must have shown on his face because Akira’s expression turned apologetic.

“But, yeah, he’s like obsessed with Akira and he has kind of a hate hard-on for you, no offense man—” Ryuji reached over the table and punched Akechi’s arm good-naturedly. Akechi managed not to flinch. “—so he’s the most likely suspect, right?”

“Speaking of Mishima.” Akira leaned back, abandoning the shredded napkin and drumming his fingers on his thighs, instead. His pinkie brushed against Akechi’s leg, brief and secretive. “He texted me last night about a potential Mementos target.”

 _Why didn’t you tell me about it?_ Akechi wanted to say, but he bit his tongue. He was not ready for Ann and Ryuji to start asking questions about why they’d been together late at night. Fielding questions from Morgana about leaving them for the night had been bad enough, at the beginning.

“Sounds good, dude. Wanna call the others over and have a meeting about it?”

“Mm, not yet,” Akira said. “I want to do some reconnaissance first.” He turned to Akechi, and all Akechi’s irritation flew away at the sight of that goddamned smile. _Weak._ “Come with me?”

“If you insist on having me there,” Akechi said. He didn’t return the smile, but he indulged in the widening of Akira’s when he nudged their knees together.

“Would you mind if I tagged along?” Yusuke asked. “I’m trying to stay out of my dorm today, hence my being here. My roommate is somewhat… ah. Occupied.”

“He means he’s getting laid,” Ryuji said with an eyebrow waggle. Ann smacked his arm.

“Of course you can come,” Akira said over Ryuji’s resulting complaints, not even pausing to consult with Akechi. “We’d be glad to have you along.”

“Wonderful. I appreciate your invitation, as always. Do you think the crêpe shop will have free samples again?”

* * *

“Very well, Akira,” Yusuke said as they piled into the subway. “Tell us about this potential target.” He wasn’t making an effort to quiet his voice, but it was loud enough that Akechi figured it was a moot point. Anyway, it wasn’t like the public was thinking about the Phantom Thieves as an active group anymore.

Over the walk here, Akechi had come to terms with spending extra time with Yusuke during this outing. He didn’t seem… _bad._ Akechi hadn’t been able to quite get a read on him yet, but he found himself wanting to get into his mind. He seemed complex under his single-minded starving art student exterior, and Akechi liked to know who he was dealing with.

“Actually,” Akira said to Akechi as more people swarmed onto the subway, squeezing them until they were in a small bubble in the crowd, “there’s a reason I wanted you to come along specifically.”

Akechi raised his eyebrows. “Oh?” _And here I’d thought Akira’s motivation was to spend extra time with me,_ the cynic in him scowled. He tried to not scowl outwardly, too.

“The info Mishima sent me suggests that the target works for a popular television company. I’m not sure if it’s someone you’d recognize, but I thought there was a chance you might.”

Akechi rubbed his chin. “Hm, I see. I can’t promise I’ll remember any names, but it's not like I had anything better to do today.”

“Are there any more details on them?” Yusuke swayed with the movement of the train, bumping shoulders with businessmen who didn’t look up from their smartphones and newspapers. It was crowded and _hot_ on the train, but it was almost a blessing after being outside.

“There were a few posts on the Phansite, all by different women trying to break into the industry. They say there’s a director who’s being a real creep, promising speaking roles in small-budget shows in exchange for sexual favors. He even told a high school extra that she’d do well in the porn industry when she got older.”

“Bastards like that are all over the media complex. Sadly, it’s all too common,” Akechi said. He’d seen it more than a few times, even as little as he’d been involved in TV. Rumors were everywhere in the biz.

“It is. It’s in every industry, not the media alone—even the art world. That’s why it’s important to make a change where we can, even if it’s just one man.” Yusuke looked unblinkingly at Akechi. Akechi leveled eye contact with him. He felt strangely impressed.

“I agree.” Akira leaned just a degree to the side, enough that his arm and hand rested against Akechi’s, then caught Akechi’s eye with a small smile. “Regardless of your potential knowledge, I wanted to have you around.”

Akechi cleared his throat and tried to ignore the rush of warm relief those words gave him. “Aside from that, why Shibuya?” His face felt warm at the casual contact of their arms. He hoped Yusuke didn’t notice—he seemed to vacillate between being extremely and not all perceptive. “What’s your lead?”

“Mishima did some digging. It looks like there’s a similar post from a few months ago, but it’s about an _assistant_ director. One of the more recent posts said he’d been spending a lot of money, buying gifts to get the new girls and execs on his side—it’s probably the same guy, promoted and going overboard with his new salary.”

“So you want to stake out the underground mall?” Yusuke turned back from squinting at a man in a loud orange coat and purple bangs, looking like he longed for his oils and brushes. “A fine plan. We may want to scout out the higher-end shops in particular.”

_“Next stop, Shibuya. Next stop, Shibuya.”_

“Let’s get to it, then,” Akechi said.

It was _damn_ cold outside when they exited the station and waited to cross the Shibuya Scramble. The crowd buffered them from the worst of the chill, but he could feel his fingers and nose going numb. He should've worn gloves.

Akechi pushed his glasses up his nose—Akira’s glasses. They’d decided to go with a similar disguise to the last time they’d tried to dodge Akechi’s fans. He wore Akira’s glasses and a hoodie pulled up under his coat, his hair in a ponytail and his trademark layered bangs pinned back against his head. It felt strange, being invisible in public. He could see the appeal.

Of course, being invisible didn’t stop him from being talked about.

“—Akechi-san, right? I was reading that fanfic last night; I can’t put it down.” His ears picked up his name, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from catching on a group of college-aged girls waiting nearby.

“Wait, who is that?”

“Oh my god, you don’t remember? You were thirsting over him _so_ hard last year!”

“Huh, I don’t remember at all…”

“Yeah, he kind of fell out of the public eye for a while. I forgot all about him until now.”

“Oh, yeah! Remember when I didn’t get that job? They called me saying they changed their mind! I know, I couldn’t believe it…”

The traffic stopped for pedestrians, and one of the girls looked up in his direction as they walked by the group. He knew she probably wouldn’t recognize him, but he slid his gaze to the ground in a knee-jerk reaction just in case. He adjusted the glasses again—the right lens was smudged now, and it was incredibly distracting, but he didn't want to risk taking them off to clean them.

It wasn’t a date, not really, but walking next to Akira felt _right._ He wanted to hold Akira’s hand so badly his fingers itched, but even with no one there to recognize who he was, he couldn’t do it with Yusuke right next to them. They had mutually agreed to keep their relationship quiet, at least for the present. Akechi wasn’t ready to think of what the future might hold. He didn’t want to start thinking down that path, the path of his _future_ and what might exist of it after… after.

Akechi hadn’t told Akira his reasoning behind it, but in truth, he was worried about _Akira’s_ reputation in the group if word got out. The Thieves were friendly with him, but Akechi knew he wasn’t exactly the most popular person in the group. He couldn't tell how much of it was façade and what was genuine companionship. He’d made some mistakes—hell, he couldn’t call them mistakes. He’d known what he was doing at the time. If it were him, he didn't know if he could forgive what had been done.

He didn't want forgiveness, anyway. Screw forgiveness, and screw friendship, and screw fanfiction. Right now, he just wanted to focus on fixing this warped reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to split this chapter into two, because it was getting a little long for the chapter lengths I was going for, so more Shinjuku to come! The first iterations of this fic were also much more focused on humor, so... oops?


End file.
